Spiritual Issue Surrounding Santa and Christmas

Following the previous post, I wanted to share my recent thoughts on the Santa issue. I recently was corresponding with a friend on whether as a Christian we should espouse the Santa myth with our kids. I certainly don't profess to be a learned biblical scholar, but I hope after 28 years of walking the Christian walk that I would have learned that we can't even scratch the surface of understanding God or knowing the depths of his mercy or grace. In the end, whether its right or wrong is a personal question which only you can answer with what God is asking of you. As for me.... I would grieve the loss of joy that Santa brings to the lives of my children in this blessed time of year, as long as they see him as a messenger of Jesus' message and not the object of it. Here's my thoughts as I wrote to this life long friend. Figured its an issue we all come to face.

Hey W,

It's kind of funny that you brought this up. We recently were struggling with the Santa issue when a couple of our neighbor's kids told Josh (my 6 year old) that Santa wasn't real. To be very honest, Angela and I were very upset about it. Faced with the point blank question (Is he real?) we came clean, but talked with him about the real St. Nick and that the message behind the Santa Claus story was of selfless giving and appreciating the ultimate gift that the Lord gave to us and also gave him the reasons to keep the secret not to spoil it for the other children who still believed. From a very young age, we've always told our children that Santa was giving them presents in commemoration of Jesus' birthday. Instilling in them that he loved us so much that he wanted to give us the presents on his birthday. In that way, we included Santa as a messenger and not the object of the season. Paul in his various letters to the churches urged us to be salt and light, but also to be balanced in all things. I truly believe that this is one of those areas, that the Lord did the switch on Satan... what he meant for evil... pagan holiday celebrating winter solstice... the Lord commandeered to celebrate his son's birth. Our refusing to go along, only ruins his joke!

As a Christian, I know all of the secular roots behind the "Modern Christmas Holiday" and I agree that there has been a concerted effort to remove Christ from Christmas and the real meaning behind the season at times is lost, but I have such joyous memories of Christmas and Santa and the whole magic of the season. I once heard my former pastor from Bay St. Louis give a message on Santa.. coming to the conclusion that if a minister couldn't find the redemption and salvation story as an overriding theme in the midst of the Santa legend, then they should get into another line of work. I have to agree completely with him. As a parent, I have taken great delight in seeing my sons' expressions on Christmas morning and playing up the Santa visit, but they've never lost sight of the reason for Christmas and what the celebration was truly about.

I truly believe that God sees and judges the heart, and that our celebrating his son's birth on December 25th or October 31st would not be an issue in our salvation or walk with him. As I see it, we should view each day as a gift. Some Christians are very confused in this area and I would not belittle or begrudge them for following their conscience in this area but I grieve for their kids who are denied joy by a religious spirit hang up. However, I can find no fault in my spirit or motives when I perpetuate the Santa myth, to bring a small measure of fantasy to my childrens' Christmas. As I see it, there are often too many things in this life that seek to steal their joy and innocence, as well as their child like faith that anything is possible. For that reason, there will always be a Santa in my Christmas and I hope in the lives of my children.

Jay